Kim Jung Hyun Drops Out as Leading Man of MBC Drama Time Due to Health Reasons

This may be a first in two K-dramas losing their leading man rather abruptly before the series has wrapped filming. On the heels of Yoon Doo Joon enlisting in the military and his drama Let’s Eat 3 to end two episodes early, over at MBC the low rated Mon-Tues melodrama Time will lose leading man Kim Jung Hyun immediately with his character being written off the show with a death that actually isn’t out of narrative since his character is dealing with a terminal illness during the entire series. The production has released a statement explaining that Kim Jung Hyun has been dealing with an eating disorder and sleep disorder during filming and his doctor has mandated rest at this time so he can no longer film the drama. It’s distressing to hear that he’s going through what sounds like a serious health concern in what sounds like combination of mental and physical issues. Sending a full recovery soon to Kim Jung Hyun, and expect his character to leave the series shortly.

Comments

Kim Jung Hyun Drops Out as Leading Man of MBC Drama Time Due to Health Reasons — 28 Comments

He had a bad attitude scandal, which he explained that he was supposedly too immersed into his character (à la Jared Leto). Now he can’t continue due to doctor’s orders because he has developed eating disorder and insomnia. I’m not sure if something else has happened behind the scenes between him and some producers but I think the entertainment world is way too hard for him to handle and he couldn’t take the pressure and critique.

I highly doubt the drama production would try to cover up for a up and coming actor in his first lead role if he left because there was extreme discord with him?

This is part of the drama production official statement about the matter:

“The production team also commented, “He is doing his best with the filming that he has remaining. We have had lots of conversations about the drama, and he has played the character well with passionate acting in every scene and amazing analysis of the drama. We hope he will recover quickly and that we can meet him again in good condition.”

Your last sentence is a bit much but what’s new…it’s quite something to assume for someone and a situation you know very little about. Besides that, he’s been getting nothing but praise from netizens who are watching the drama and also got praise for his performance on the netizen article about him dropping out of the drama.

he has been working non stop since school 2017? He’s still rookie actor too, must be hard for him. I still think he’s unprofessional for his doing during press conference, he has apologised for it. When people said it’s due to his mental health issues, I think this is why people left such stigma to people dealing with mental illness, because of people like him.

If he is in any way at fault for having to drop out of the drama, it’s very unlikely that the production company would bother covering for him. Instead we’d have a situation like Go Hyun Jung with Return last year.

And anyway he’s a newbie actor who isn’t even from a powerful agency, why would they cover it up if he deserved blame?

Goodness, this must be devastating for him especially for his first official lead role and i imagine he had or was close to a complete mental and physical breakdown for this to happen. I appreciate him and his agency being open about what’s going on with him and I really wish him a speedy recovery. We’re rooting for you Jung Hyun.

It’s not his first official lead role, it’s second, even we can tell the third one, because in Waikiki he was considered as a lead.

It’s sad to hear, but he’s lost so much weight from his first roles, so he must’ve struggled from eating disorder while under extreme stress for a long time and at the press conference he looked really really tired even with strong make-up. He’s a brilliant actor with strong responsibility so it’s better to leave as to be on IV’s every now and then just to finish a drama. Good job! I’m looking forward to his full recovery and his next projects.

Y’all are right (I mostly consider him part of an ensemble cast in Waikiki and forgot about School 2017) thanks for the correction! I still don’t think he’s well known by the korean public so every drama does count and unfortunately this is his biggest headline to date.

Thankfully Korean netizens are generally understanding and his acting in this drama has impressed a lot of people who weren’t aware of him before. I hope he gets the help he needs, makes a full recovery and bounces back better than ever.

We love the series because KJH played so well in his role. All of us was saddened to hear such news. Honestly speaking this major role of HIM, may lead him to a greater success in the future. Hope HE is doing well. It will be a loss for KOREAN entertainment to let go of this kind of Actor. We will surely pray for his immediate recovery & rest assure to watch for him in the near future. KEEP it UP!

He went from the school drama to Waikiki which got extended to Time all of which I believe were live shoot dramas. That’s a lot of pressure. I wish the best for him and the rest of the drama team as well.

He is not going to be replaced. i’ve read that The scriptwriters already have everything planned and ready to make it happen before the announcement of his departure. Besides this, his character was suffering of a terminal illness so his character was going to die anyway.
I hope he recovers well and not stop being an actor. He is very good actor and deserves more work.
I hope he stops with the “method acting” it destroys lives of actors and he clearly was not prepared for the consequences as a rookie actor.
People saying he is not that good of an actor are just trolling.
This is not his first drama playing as the main male character.
Because of his unprofessional and wrong attitude during the press con for this drama he created haters for himself.
Seohyun’s fans are having parties with hate towards him if you search out there.

This is my first time of watching him as an actor. I haven’t seen Rebel , School 2017 and Wakiki yet.
I even don’t like him that much ,thinking he is not a handsome actor. ( though I am not shallow)

I only decided to watch cause this drama is written by Secrets and Mask writer.
But after watching this, his character ‘ Su Ho ‘ really warms up to me because of his good acting and great performance, making me want to watch his other characters. I am saying he is good at his job.
Now, it can be said I am watching Time because of him. So I am really worried how the story line will go without him.
That being said , I really wish him to become well.

Looking at it, he’s been working non-stop for the last 18 months, he went from Rebel to School 2017 to Waikiki and now this.

He’s had barely any breaks while dealing with a weakened physical and mental condition, I hope he’s able to rest and take the time he needs to get healthy now. The eating disorder is especially worrying, given his field of work.